In the past month I have reported on a number of issues that have been prevalent in the media. The issues of the "Should Doctors Strike?" and "Assisted Suicide" were both cases which involved ethical issues. The post that I enjoyed writing most was "Cardiothoracic Surgery" mainly because of the videos but also because of the surgery side, which requires huge amounts of skill.
I have learnt so much in the past month about the medical world by doing this blog but have also learnt that I am only scratching at a tiny part of the huge surface that is the medical world. I realise this every time I write a post; when I'm try to back up what I am saying with quotes and ideas from leading doctors and scientists I find myself with a wall of academic papers, newspaper articles, published research and people's opinions but know that I don't have the time to wade through all of it to find out what I need... I resign myself to the fact that I can't wade through and understand everything there is in this world!
As it goes ethics are extremely important in medicine (although the most boring part of Biology AS!) because everything that a doctor does will be scrutinised by the hospital he works in or even by the media if the mistake is bad enough.
For example, even today, a story came out about assisted suicide. The man in question is a severely disabled man who "wants the court to rule that a doctor should be able to help him to die" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16957125). The man suffers from 'locked-in syndrome' where the "patient is mute and totally paralysed, except for eye movements, but remains conscious" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16957125).
So the question is; let him die or not?
From the doctors perspective it's a firm "no" (in all cases of assisted suicide) because of the Hippocratic Oath taken by all doctors to swear that they will practice medicine ethically. The man could be taken to Dignitas to die peacefully, but the doctor will not be allowed to take him, the family would have to take him. Doctors cannot be seen to take someone to die; it would be a media storm. The sad thing is that the doctors personal opinion cannot be known to influence his duty to keep patients alive, even if they believe the patient has the right to die if he wants too.
From the family point of view it would most probably be "yes/no". Yes, because they must be in so much emotional stress and pain and to be put out of their pain might be the best thing for the family as a whole. But on the other hand, this man is someone's son, maybe husband and uncle; he is part of the family, a living human being. It would be devastating for the family to lose him, so they may say no and take side with the doctors.
Whatever decision is made, this is an extremely sad case but is one that has come up before and will come up again in the future, the question is, what is the right thing to do in the circumstances?
I have learnt so much in the past month about the medical world by doing this blog but have also learnt that I am only scratching at a tiny part of the huge surface that is the medical world. I realise this every time I write a post; when I'm try to back up what I am saying with quotes and ideas from leading doctors and scientists I find myself with a wall of academic papers, newspaper articles, published research and people's opinions but know that I don't have the time to wade through all of it to find out what I need... I resign myself to the fact that I can't wade through and understand everything there is in this world!
As it goes ethics are extremely important in medicine (although the most boring part of Biology AS!) because everything that a doctor does will be scrutinised by the hospital he works in or even by the media if the mistake is bad enough.
For example, even today, a story came out about assisted suicide. The man in question is a severely disabled man who "wants the court to rule that a doctor should be able to help him to die" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16957125). The man suffers from 'locked-in syndrome' where the "patient is mute and totally paralysed, except for eye movements, but remains conscious" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16957125).
So the question is; let him die or not?
From the doctors perspective it's a firm "no" (in all cases of assisted suicide) because of the Hippocratic Oath taken by all doctors to swear that they will practice medicine ethically. The man could be taken to Dignitas to die peacefully, but the doctor will not be allowed to take him, the family would have to take him. Doctors cannot be seen to take someone to die; it would be a media storm. The sad thing is that the doctors personal opinion cannot be known to influence his duty to keep patients alive, even if they believe the patient has the right to die if he wants too.
From the family point of view it would most probably be "yes/no". Yes, because they must be in so much emotional stress and pain and to be put out of their pain might be the best thing for the family as a whole. But on the other hand, this man is someone's son, maybe husband and uncle; he is part of the family, a living human being. It would be devastating for the family to lose him, so they may say no and take side with the doctors.
Whatever decision is made, this is an extremely sad case but is one that has come up before and will come up again in the future, the question is, what is the right thing to do in the circumstances?
Hey, nice post.
ReplyDeleteCouple of little things that I think are pretty interesting.
Almost no UK doctors take the Hippocratic oath anymore, it's usually this - http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/good_medical_practice/duties_of_a_doctor.asp
Or this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Geneva
The 'duty to keep patients alive' can be more complicated than it seems at first, in the case mentioned here the doctors wouldn't currently be allowed to help him to end his life but in cases of terminal illness sometimes withdrawing treatment or "Do not resuscitate" orders can be a suitable part of palliative care, when treatments wouldn't offer a good chance of an improved outcome.
So yeah, interesting stuff.
Henry
I really enjoyed all you had to share and appreciate your generous heart
ReplyDeleteI am only scratching at a tiny part of the huge surface of my balls.
ReplyDelete